Carlos Lisboa - the best Portuguese player ever

[rikhardur]

Carlos Lisboa was born in Cape Verde in 1958, one of the Portuguese colonies at the time. He started playing basketball in Mozambique, but came to Portugal in 1974 and played for Sporting Lisbon, winning 3 championships and 2 cups. He then moved to Queluz with which he won a championship and a cup. In 1984 he signed for Benfica and remained there until the end of his career in 1996, becoming the symbol of the club. With the reds he won 10 championships, 5 cups and several supercups and league cups.
He also played 46 times with the NT.
He was a pure SG, known by his deadly and recurrent 3-point shots. He often would end having more 3-point shots than FGs (!). His highest score might have been 50, but I'm not sure (it was long long ago).



Some of his highs in Europe:

POINTS: 45 vs Partizan Belgrade in 1995 (European Championsip 1995/1996)
REBOUNDS: 9 vs Cantù in 1993 (European Championsip 1995/1996)
ASSISTS: 7 vs Cholet in 1992 (European Cup 1992/1993)
STEALS: 8 vs Cantù in 1994 (European Championsip 1993/1994)
3-POINT SHOTS MADE: 10 vs Partizan Belgrade in 1995 (European Championsip 1995/1996) and in some other occasion
3-POINT SHOTS ATTEMPTED: 22 vs Joventut in 1993 (European Championsip 1993/1994)
2-POINT SHOTS MADE: 7 vs Hapoel Galil Elyon in 1991 (European Cup 1991/1992) and in some other occasion
2-POINT SHOTS ATTEMPTED: 14 vs Budivelnik in 1992 (European Cup 1992/1993)



His averages in Europe:

1996: 18.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.1 apg
1995: 15.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.1 apg
1994: 18.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.2 apg
1993: 16.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.0 apg
1992: 16.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

I'll try to find some of his stats in domestic competitions.



Some videos:

The last 3-pointer for 45 pts in 1995 vs Partizan


1995 playoff finals, game 1 vs Porto - 3 consecutive 3-pointers to secure the win

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26p1e_fantastico-carlos-lisboa

His last game in 1996




Some photos attached:

1- Benfica in 1988, Lisboa with no. 7
2- Shot vs Hapoel Galil Elyon in 1991
3- vs Panathinaikos
4- Late 80s
5- An easy shot
6- Celebrating the 7th championship title in an row
7- Celebrating his last title in 1995
8- Celebrating the cup title in 1995
9- Dribbling and thinking what to do next
10- Tough shot

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

Is that Mike Nahar on the second video? He looked exactly the same even when he aged

I remember Lisboa from the EL games back in the mid 90's. He had an evil hand that's for sure. Benfica was built around him and even though they had a weak team they had managed a few upsets here and there. I recall some wins against PAOK and Badalona (away) but I am sure there were more of them. Thanks for bringing back memories rikh.

[rikhardur]

Is that Mike Nahar on the second video? He looked exactly the same even when he aged

I remember Lisboa from the EL games back in the mid 90's. He had an evil hand that's for sure. Benfica was built around him and even though they had a weak team they had managed a few upsets here and there. I recall some wins against PAOK and Badalona (away) but I am sure there were more of them. Thanks for bringing back memories rikh.

Yes, that's Nahar
They also managed to beat PAO or Pau-Orthez. Those were the days.

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

You are right, I looked at their EL results between 1994 and 1996 and they beat Pau-Orthez, Virtus Bologna, Cibona, Olimpija, Panathinaikos (the year they won their first EL title, even though without Wilkins on that game) and finally CSKA. Some of these games were without interest for their opponents but that means little.

I actually didn't know that he was born in CV. Is he still involved in basketball in any way? How recognizable was he at the time and how much would you say he is now amongst sports fans and the general public in Portugal?

[nmmb]

he is not very recognized.i have met basketball players that are around 18 years old that dont know him!!!!!the best portuguese player of all time!!!!

To the portuguese readers
it is going to be broadcasted a game in wich he played in RTP Memoria today at 1:00 a.m.

[rikhardur]

I actually didn't know that he was born in CV. Is he still involved in basketball in any way? How recognizable was he at the time and how much would you say he is now amongst sports fans and the general public in Portugal?

Yes, he coached for some time after he retired and he's now Benfica's GM.
I sort of agree with nmmb, he could have had more public recognition, both then and now, but back then if basketball was the issue, Lisboa would always be mentioned. Generally I think everything had to do with him being a bit of a low profile player. The fact is he had offers from all over Europe (and the NBA some claim, but I doubt it's true), but he always declined to play abroad and preferred to stay with Benfica.

[nmmb]

Yes, he coached for some time after he retired and he's now Benfica's GM.
I sort of agree with nmmb, he could have had more public recognition, both then and now, but back then if basketball was the issue, Lisboa would always be mentioned. Generally I think everything had to do about him being a bit of a low profile player. The fact is he had offers from all over Europe (and the NBA some claim, but I doubt it's true), but he always declined to play abroad and preferred to stay with Benfica.

i saw an interview where he said he had an offer to go to a team that was agoing to be in the nba but never got there.i will try to find that interview.

[damelo]

he is not very recognized.i have met basketball players that are around 18 years old that dont know him!!!!!the best portuguese player of all time!!!!

To the portuguese readers
it is going to be broadcasted a game in wich he played in RTP Memoria today at 1:00 a.m.

You know, until the guy is not in the NBA...

Do you think Dacoury was known in France? Or Rigaudeau?
They did everything in the country, but, all people know is Tony Parker.

Anyway, i didn't know this guy, but it seems many countries had their super sharp shooter at that time.
Rigaudeau, Petro, Oscar Schmitt, etc...

[rikhardur]

Anyway, i didn't know this guy, but it seems many countries had their super sharp shooter at that time.
Rigaudeau, Petro, Oscar Schmitt, etc...

He can be compared to Schmidt in terms of career longevity and quality of performance. He was like 38 and he would still score 30+ on a regular basis. Actually you really didn't notice the age thing.

[Panathinaikos]

The first thing that imprest me was his age !!! He could score so many points and some of his best games in Euroleague was by the age of 35 - 36 !!!
I didn't know his age though till I red your posts here.

Anyway.

Lisboa was something like N.Galis in Greece. Of course we had more players along with Galis like Fanis Chiristodoulou Panagiotis Giannakis Panagiotis Fasoulas etc, but Lisboa helped the Portugal team and he placed Benfica in European basketball map.

If the people of Benfica f.c. wants to help the basketball section they can do it very easily. Benfica f.c. is a rich team. At list to see Benfica basketball team in Euro-challenge league. I really want to see that team again playing some decent basketball in Europe. We need more countries and Portugal could be one of them.
I find it very wired that they don't like basketball in Portugal especially due to the country's location.

[FadeAway]

A better video about his 45 points against Partizan http://youtu.be/lBK68ytXgck

10/15 in 3pt. It was a Euroleague record at the time, beating Drazen Petrovic's 10/16.




Edit: I also just found some full matches, including that one and one in Barcelona in this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/LORDDD1000/videos

[rikhardur]

Edit: I also just found some full matches, including that one and one in Barcelona in this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/LORDDD1000/videos

Great finding!